Friday, January 1, 2010

This is the dawn of a new decade. Individuals and companies will be facing new challenges in the form of convergence of crisis of Finance / Fuel / Foods etc in the coming years. The solution will likely be the essential quest for sustainability, resilience and harmony in the areas of Economy / Equity / Environment, based on cyclical, rather than linear mode of operation.

Indeed, there will be three essential Cycles (as illustrated with the help of the SOHO Tricycle) that will determine our Quality of Working, Quality of Living and Quality of Life.

The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle will determine how effectively and efficiently we earn our living, bringing with it the usual tool-kits of Productivity, Innovations and Creativity. The promotion of entrepreneurship in the form of Small-Office-Home Office (SOHO1) is also very much encouraged. This is the Economy area. It is essentially Acting Locally. This will improve our Quality of Working.

The Permaculture Cycle advocates the global approach in solving local problems (the so-called Re-Localization Movement), while emphasizing diversity, resilience and harmony. The complexity of the environment is well respected and the conservation of energy practiced. The role of the Sun, and the associated Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO2) spacecraft, is well acknowledged, confirming the need for more Re-Solarization efforts world-wide (such as solar panels and trees or photosynthesis). This is the Environment area. It is essentially Thinking Globally. This will improve our Quality of Living.

The Holon Cycle, a reference to the Self-Organizing Holarchic Open (SOHO3) system (Prigogine, Nobel Prize), gives emphasis to the inter-connectedness and inter-dependence of things and beings in the Cosmos via the Holarchy structure (rather than Hierarchy structure). Everything is “always partial, already whole” or “box-in-a-box-in-a-box” (Bibib). Bibib is a good way to define a holon. We are inter-connected and inter-dependent. This is the Equity area. It is essentially Connecting Cosmically. This will improve our Quality of Life.

So, we have Three Cycles. Be a Genuine Child. Try the SOHO Tricycle in the New Year 2010.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Social Environmental Entrepreneurs SEE (this is to really see) both the threats and opportunities presented by the Generation-E(Environment, Energy, Equity, Enterprise and E-commerce), irrespective of whether they individually are the Baby-Boomers (now generally retired, born 1946 - 1961), or the Gen-X (Hip-Hop and MTV, born 1961- 1981) or the Gen-Y (E-mail, IM , YouTube, born 1981 - 2003) and to some extent, even the Gen-Z (MP3, Cell-phone and high digital connectivity).

Today, let us explore the route taken by Mr. Naoki Shiomi, the author of the book “Half-Farmer, Half-X” (半農半X) and his promotion of associated lifestyle which I would described as TransFarmers (transforming themselves, the earth and the world) or Culturvators (Cultural Innovator, both cultivating the Earth and Culture). This is real (Agri)Culture / Permaculture (Permanent Agriculture or Permanent Culture).

Mr. Naoki Shiomi, is the originator of the "Half-Farmer, Half-X" (半農半X) Concept and authored the book carrying the same title, and founded the "Half-Farmer, Half-X Research Center” at Ayabe, Kyoto, Japan. Half-Farming, Half-X Research Center Official Website http://www.towanoe.jp/xseed/

The phrase, "Half-Farmer, Half-X" (半農半X) is drawing much attention as the new key phrase for a lifestyle, a way of life, for the 21st century. "Half-Farmer" refers to "a lifestyle with a touch of farming," and the X in "Half-X"(半農半X) refers to an individual's profession / passion / purpose or social mission or natural calling. The synergy is inspiring / enlightening to the individual’s pursuit of wealth / health / happiness, while making real contributions to the world, making good while doing good or Triple-Bottom-Line (Profit-People-Planet).

This concept can form an excellent alliance with Permaculture (the most famous Australian cultural export, courtesy of Bill Mollison and David Holmgren). By the way, someone once said, to the effect, that if you do not know anything about Permaculture or Biochar (biological char-coal), it is high time you get interested, in the coming convergence of three crises: Food / Fuel / Finance!

If you had gone through the draft documents I had mentioned in my last posting, you might be wondering, what is the relationship amongst SOHO Technology 3.0 and “Office-In-Every-Home” and “Home-In-Every-Office” (the SOHO Technology without the 3.0 postfix)? Very obviously, SOHO Technology is a subset of SOHO Technology 3.0 or, in IT language, beta version. Actually, there is more to meet the eyes.

“Office-In-Every-Home” is developing work-from-home culture or family office for entrepreneurship, using Small-Office-Home-Office. This is Component One (1) of the SOHO Technology.

“Home-In-Every-Office” is developing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) culture, advocating corporate family concept / common stakeholder-ship amongst employees, customers, suppliers and other externalities. This is Component Two (2) of the SOHO Technology.

"Third Place" is added to complete the picture. There is a further Component Three (3) in SOHO Technology called the “Third Place”, usually a social location or site other than the Home (First Place) and the Work-place (Second Place). The “Third Place” could also be your social clubs / church or you can deem the Internet / World-World-Web as the largest “Third Place” in the world. For start-ups, a shared office or co-working arrangement or business incubator is the Third Place.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

SOHO-TECHNOLOGY-3 consists of two principal parts: • Grass-Root-Philosophy (GRP) in which I will dwell into Soil, Sun and Soul (serious issues) vs. Sun, Sea, Sand and Sauna (fun issues).• Global-Business-Plan (GBP) in which I will promote a business model that advocates the Triple-Bottom-Line (Profit-Planet-People).

I think it will be interesting to see how each and everyone of us can be a philosopher and businessman at the same time.This will also be the site to meet similarly-inclined business-persons, both locally and globally.

The GRP is a very grass-root approach in philosophical search, commencing with a business start-up from Small-Office-Home-Office (SOHO-1), while having some spare time engaged in Astronomy studying the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO-2) which further extends our investigation into the Self-Organizing Holarchi Open (SOHO-3) system that helps to answer the questions, such as “Why there is life?”, “What is the purpose of life?” etc. etc. Sound very much like searching for Soil, Sun and Soul.

The GBP, on the other hand, involves having an “Office-In-Every-Home” for each and every one of us as a launch-pad for a business venture that will eventually turn us into full-fledged Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE) promoting "Home-In-Every-Office" concept in businesses, while receiving necessary back-up from centralized locations. Hopefully this will lead many of us to financial independence. Sound very much like having a lifestyle of Sun, Sea, Sand and Sauna.

For the impatient lots, you might want to have a preliminary glimpse of the GRP and the GBP by downloading the draft documents here (ppt)or here (pdf) and here (ppt) or here (pdf) respectively. These are draft documents only, more details will appear on this site. So, please stay tuned or subscribe to the RSS of this site.

Please join me in this exciting journey of Cultural Innovation and be counted amongst the very first batch of Culturvators.

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About Me

· Semi-retired Realtor, now working on place-making project called Collaborative Second Home for Live-Work-Travel-Learn-Play (LW-T-LP) Lifestyle and passive incomes. www.soholand-collaborative.com . Collaborative Second Home is similar to other "Third Place" projects such as Co-working, Co-Housing, Hacker-Space etc. This is your vehicle to owning a Second HOME, experiencing a Second LIFE, connecting to a Second FAMILY!

·Successfully marketed the first Smart-Home (ICT-enabled) project in Kuala Lumpur. Awarded relevant prize by the Centre of International Cooperation in Computerization (CICC), Japan in 1992. Plus tours of similar setups in Japan.

·Involved in SOHO (Small Office Home Office) movement in China and Malaysia, with clear vision of the future evolution of the SOHO movement: Beyond Solopreneur / Technopreneur / Biopreneur. Given full-page color feature in the Malay Mail.

·Currently working on SOHO Technology 3.0 that summarizes my perceived approach to Sustainability and Wellbeing / Happiness, covering the Triple-Bottom-Line.

P.S.:-

Actively working on Third Place project
(place-making sanctuary for Plan B scenario) advocating Home / Work / Life
balance via SOHO Tech 3.0 http://bit.ly/319MEN

OR simply:

From SOHO (Small-Office-Home-Office) to LOHO
(Life Of Harmony) without being BOBO (Bourgeois-Bohemian: Yuppie types who
pretend not to be), or simply being a Lohomian, practicing LOHAS (Lifestyle Of
Health And Sustainability) and achieving Triple-Bottom-Line of
Profit-People-Planet or Economy-Equity-Ecology, via SOHO-Technology 3.0 at
SOHOMINIUM